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In Age of Ultron, Wanda Maximoff uses her powers to cause mental trauma to the Avengers. But Clint Barton is apparently the only Avenger NOT to be put under Wanda's spell. Why not?

Here is what I noticed:

Tony Stark was caused to feel that he had killed the Avengers. Thor was caused to fear that all his subjects would die because of him. Captain America was caused to ponder the woman he left behind in World War II. Natasha was caused to relive traumas from her training as an assassin. And while we did not see Banner's visions, we did see Hulk ravaging a city right after, and Tony Stark telling Hulk that is was just Wanda in his head.

By contrast, we never see Clint have a traumatic vision or any after effects or even reference to a trauma. What we do see is one of Clint's arrows on Wanda's forehead as Clint says "mind control is not really my thing." Then Pietro Maximov takes the wounded Wanda away from Clint, and Clint calls in to Tony Stark reporting that the rest of the team is down. Clint also has the mental presence to be the one to fly the jet to his home so the rest of the team can get a break while they are debilitated. And Clint tells his wife that the team took a hit from Wanda, without mentioning himself. All this evidence points to Clint having resisted Wanda's attempts to entrance him.

So why is Clint strong enough to resist Wanda when none of the other Avengers were?

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    I would say that its because he was aware that Wanda was behind her and attacked her before she could use her spell on him. And he did say it as a joke that he tried mind control ,referring to the last time that Loki had mind controlled him, and he didnt like it.
    – j4rey
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 5:28
  • 1
    A detailed answer can be found here: movies.stackexchange.com/questions/34101/…
    – Stark07
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 6:24
  • I would also say he expected her type of attack because of Loki, he references that he has been there before, a.k.a he is now immune to that type of attack
    – Sammaye
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 9:45
  • 4
    @Sammaye he isn't immune, he's just not going to "fall for it" again, as in he'll try his best to prevent such a scenario
    – Petersaber
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 10:09
  • Mind Control Vaccination?
    – xDaizu
    Commented Jun 25, 2018 at 8:07

5 Answers 5

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That's because

he heard Wanda sneaking up on him and reacted accordingly. He must've been paranoid after Loki did what he did, so he was prepared, so she never got a chance to ensnare him. Instead, a stunning arrow on her forehead.

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Because he knocks her out before she can touch his head with her magic fingers. No touchy, no entrancement.

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    Inconsistencies in her power set. Telekinetic and mind reading from a distance, sure, but every example of mind altering juju required hand to head touch. Not that odd really in terms of a psyker power set. @codemed
    – user16696
    Commented May 28, 2015 at 15:37
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    @CodeMed She does mention to Ultron that some people are harder to read than others, and that it can take time to do her thing. It would make sense that being closer allows her to work more quickly, which would be important when dealing with people as dangerous as the Avengers.
    – Nerrolken
    Commented Jun 5, 2015 at 17:19
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I think you misinterpreted the scene.

Hawkeye, being a very sharp archer, has shown to have heightened senses (refer to all his archery scenes through Avengers 1 & 2).

With such senses, he had heard Scarlet Witch walk up to him.

Basically he hit her before she had the chance to warp his mind. If you look at all the scenes involving Scarlet Witch manipulating the Avengers, she has specific hand gestures, and a flash of red. In case of Hawkeye, we do not see any such actions take place.

Hence, the conclusion:

Hawkeye is not immune to mind control. He merely neutralised Wanda before she had the chance to meddle with his mind.

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3

So I think he just attacked her first so that she could not use her mind control powers on him. Some other day she could control him if she acted before him. I think this is what the plot of the movie was but Clint can be controlled by Wanda in theory.

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I know I'm late to answer this but I think the answer to that might be more meta in nature.

Perhaps the reason why Clint was not entranced by Wanda's magic is simply because the Hawkeye character, as far as the MCU goes, has very little development in his past. I.e. there's nothing really to show the viewers if Wanda were cause him to hallucinate. Aside from the Avengers context we know little about Clint.

And I know you might say the same thing for Natasha / Black Widow, but she's a bit more fleshed out as a character in spite of not having her own movie to show flashbacks to.

Clint is the perfect candidate to stop Wanda but also be easily stopped by her brother and whose omission of their past is inconsequential to the viewer.

As well he also filled the role of being the guy to pilot the ship back and provide a safe haven for the Avengers when they retreat with their tails between their leg.

Had he been affected to, there might not have been that opportunity. His private life was a good plot device.

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